This invention relates to transverse slicers for food products.
Transverse food slicers are described in the prior art as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 2,482,523 granted Sep. 20, 1949 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,004,572 granted Oct. 17, 1961. This type of slicing equipment includes a conveyor for advancing food products to be sliced along a generally horizontal direction so they traverse a cutting plane defined by the motion of radially extending cutting blades carried by a rotating cutting wheel that is mounted generally perpendicular to and transversely of the food product advancing direction. The rotating cutting blades transversely slice food products advanced through the cutting plane in a rapid manner to enable high volume production of food product slices by the food processors.
Recent refinements to the radial cutting blades of such slicers have enabled production of precise, thin, uniform thickness slices of various food products such as potatoes. Where potatoes are concerned, uniform thickness slices are required to enable high quality production of fried potato chips from the potato slices. Non-uniform potato slices, of course, inherently will result in non-uniform frying of the potato slices and poor quality potato chips. Other food processors demand precise, uniform thickness food product slices as well.
Transverse slicers of the type described above are capable of producing uniformly thick slices of potatoes that are elongate, but it has been observed that the use of such a transverse slicer to slice relatively round potatoes does not produce uniformly thick slices due to the motion of the round potato product as it leaves the conveyor and traverses the cutting plane of the transverse cutting wheel slicer. Relative motion between the potato product and the cutting blades results in a somewhat tapered slice that is undesirable for the purpose of producing uniformly fried potato chips. Processing of other food products also demands production of uniformly thick slices that do not vary substantially from slice to slice.
The present invention overcomes the problem of non-uniform thickness slices produced from relatively round food products such as potatoes advanced by a conveyor towards a cutting plane of a transverse cutting wheel.
The present invention comprises an apron or shear edge member located at the terminus area of a conveyor between such terminus and a cutting plane of a transverse cutting wheel and wherein the apron member has an upper food product supporting surface that supports and guides the food product between the conveyor and the cutting plane of the cutting wheel. The upper surface defines a shear edge at its end adjacent the cutting plane.
More specifically, the upper supporting surface of the apron member is downwardly sloped at an angle of from 30-70xc2x0, and preferably 45xc2x0, between the terminus of the conveyor and the cutting plane of the transverse cutting wheel to thereby improve the stability of the food product as it transitions from the conveyor to the cutting plane of the cutting wheel. The downwardly sloping upper surface of the apron member enables the food product to cooperate with the terminal end of the conveyor and the moving cutting knife blades in a manner that produces precise, uniformly thick slices of the food product by preventing relative movement between the food product and the cutting knife blades as the product traverses the space between the terminal end of the conveyor and the cutting plane of the cutting wheel.
The invention has particular advantages in connection with a cutting wheel using cutting blades that provide a gauging surface on the sides thereof facing the advancing food products and which are effectively pitched to advance the food product through the cutting wheel in rapid succession.
In accordance with the invention, an apron member is provided for supporting food products moving in a principal conveying direction towards a transverse cutting wheel having radial knife blades rotating in a cutting plane, wherein the apron member includes an upper product supporting surface inclined between 30-70xc2x0, and preferably 45xc2x0, generally along and downwardly relative to the principal conveying direction. The apron member terminates at a shear edge adjacent the cutting plane and substantially spans the distance between the terminus of a conveyor and the cutting plane of a transverse cutting wheel.
The apron member is usable in combination with a cutting wheel having knife blades thereon defining gate openings between the knife blades that determine the thickness of sliced food products engaging the knife blades as they are advanced to the cutting plane by the conveyor.
The invention is described in more detail below in conjunction with the appended drawings.